Additional Links

U.S. House expected to vote on nuclear funding bill

By Derrek Asberry

Oct 11 2013 12:01 am

The United States House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill today that supports operations at the Savannah River Site. The bill is H.J.Res. 76, and would fund the National Nuclear Security Administration – or NNSA – throughout the remainder of the shutdown.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., will be one of 10 members given the opportunity to voice support for the legislation before its potential passage.

“Although this bill does not cover EM funding, Congressman Wilson is determined to continue advocating for all areas affected at the Site,” said spokeswoman Caroline Delleney on behalf of Wilson. “He remains in close contact with House leadership and is hopeful that additional legislation to cover additional Site missions will be addressed in the coming days.”

This is one of several bills Wilson has promoted in the aftermath of the shutdown. After Savannah River Remediation – SRS's liquid waste contractor – announced 1,400 furloughs last week, Wilson introduced legislation to fund the DOE offices of Environmental Management and National Nuclear Security Administration in accordance with prior years' levels.

“SRS plays a tremendous role in protecting our national security and should not be forced to limit operations,” Wilson said. “By introducing this legislation, I am hopeful for its passage so that our national security projects will remain intact with a full workforce.”

The NNSA operates tritium facilities at SRS to supply and process tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen gas that is a vital component of nuclear weapons.

Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard.

Comments

Notice about comments:

Aiken Standard is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point.

We do not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click the X that appears in the upper right corner when you hover over a comment. This will send the comment to Facebook for review. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full terms and conditions.